New book charts Lee Hsien Loong’s two decades of steering Singapore through change

“While costs of living remain a perennial concern, the broadening of the social support structure means families are better able to access quality pre-school, healthcare and eldercare without feeling crippled financially,” she said, adding that this extended beyond family finances to shape people’s sense of safety and of home.

Ho noted that new levers such as the Workfare Income Supplement, Silver Support, the GST Voucher scheme, universal health and long-term care insurance, and the SkillsFuture Jobseeker Support scheme meant Singapore’s social support system was no longer the minimalist, residual model it was when Lee took over in 2004.

Adaptive leadership – the willingness to find new ways of doing things when circumstances change – was another key theme across the various policy areas covered in the book, said lead editor Koh.

That adaptability showed up in the SkillsFuture movement and the Progressive Wage Model to keep Singaporeans employable, new laws addressing the risks of social media, and expanded powers for Non-Constituency MPs to preserve diversity of views in Parliament, noted the book’s editors.

Koh also highlighted Lee’s resolution of longstanding bilateral issues with Indonesia and Malaysia as one of his major policy successes. 

“Mr Lee’s approach was not for Singapore to state a position and then to stick to its guns no matter what. Instead, there was negotiation, even reference to international law and adjudication, but in the end, he and his Malaysian and Indonesian counterparts were able to achieve win-win outcomes,” she said, adding that this opened new areas of cooperation between Singapore and its closest neighbours.

Unfinished business

Most of the book’s contributors acknowledged Lee’s significant achievements across economic management, foreign policy and diplomacy, and environmental and social policy, the editors said.

Singapore’s persistently low total fertility rate was flagged as one of Lee’s “unfinished businesses” for his successor, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong.

Sociologist Paulin Tay Straughan wrote that this requires “a cultural reimagining of what it means to be a good parent, what constitutes success, and how we value diverse pathways in life”.

Ho said PM Wong will also have to grapple with artificial intelligence’s implications for jobs, fair opportunity and social mobility, and what that means for Singapore’s social compact. 

Bhaskaran, while pointing to an impressive record of economic growth, highlighted ongoing challenges like Singapore’s high-cost structure, low total factor productivity, heavy reliance on foreign workers, and a weak equity market. 

The editors said that while specific policies from the Lee era may need revision, his government’s instinct to adapt will matter even more in an age of uncertainty, with geopolitics in flux and where strategies for economic development and technological innovation are constantly being tested by factors such as AI.

“Most of all, (the essays) speak of the adaptive governance that Mr Lee, his cohorts of political leaders and civil servants exemplified in those years,” said Koh.

“That said, fresh thinking by the current administration is needed to address challenges such as online social harms, scams, the low fertility rate, the impact of AI on jobs, wealth inequality, social mobility and more,” Ho said.

The editors hope the book will whet readers’ appetite to learn and research more on the topic.

“We hope that this book sparks discussion, debate and disagreement, and that future scholars and writers will offer other, well-researched, nuanced, and similarly considered, analyses of the Lee Hsien Loong years,” they said. “It is not the final word by any means on the challenges, impact and legacy of his leadership.”